Netflix has debunked claims that it is leaving the Nigerian market. Some news outlets reported on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, that the streaming giant was leaving the country, sparking reactions about the viability of Nollywood. In a statement first shared with Zikoko, Netflix said that it will continue to invest in Nigerian stories.
“We are not exiting Nigeria. We will continue to invest in Nigerian stories to delight our members,” a spokesperson for Netflix said.
How did the rumours start?
The news started after a video of filmmaker Kunle Afolayan circulated, in which he implied that Netflix had cut its funding for local filmmakers. In the video, he said that creators who were commissioned had their projects “cancelled,” a move that he said didn’t affect him because he was done shooting the second and third seasons of his Netflix original series Aníkúlápó.
“Three years ago, when we signed the three-film deal with Netflix, it was really exciting. Thank God we had shot seasons two and three [of Aníkúlápó] because all the other people commissioned with us simultaneously were cancelled,” he said in the video.
Slow subscriber growth
Many streamers have had to reconsider their investment in Nigeria as paid subscriber growth for a product heavily driven by internet availability has been slow. Multiple reports have said that Netflix has just under 170,000 paying subscribers in Nigeria.
One of Netflix’s biggest competitors in the country, Prime Video, which splashed huge dollars on big-budget projects like Ebuka Turns Up Africa and Jade Osiberu’s Gangs of Lagos, announced this year that it will stop funding original content in Nigeria but will not exit the country entirely.
